Barbara Gibson

Barbara Gibson (born 25 August 1962)[1] is an American-born British politician and academic. Gibson was a Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England between 2019 and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU.[2]

Barbara Gibson
Barbara Gibson at the Liberal Democrats Spring Conference 2019 in March 2019
Member of the European Parliament
for East of England
In office
2 July 2019 – 31 January 2020
Preceded byJohn Flack
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Hertfordshire County Councillor
for Haldens
In office
4 May 2017 – 6 May 2021
Preceded bySara Johnstone
Succeeded bySunny Thusu
Personal details
Born (1962-08-25) 25 August 1962
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
NationalityBritish
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Alma materBirkbeck, University of London

Early life

Gibson was born in Oklahoma City in 1962 and moved to the United Kingdom in 2002.[3]

Gibson earned a PhD in Intercultural Communication and has lectured on this topic in the context of global business for universities and business schools in the UK and across Europe, including Birkbeck, University of London.[4]

Political career

Gibson was elected to Hertfordshire County Council in 2017,[5] winning her seat from the Conservatives who had held it since 2009.

Gibson was elected to the European Parliament at the 2019 European Parliamentary election. She was placed first on the party list in the East of England constituency, and was elected alongside Lucy Nethsingha, who was placed second.

She was a member of the Committee on International Trade where she played a key role in deciding whether the EU should lower tariffs or harmonise regulations between countries outside of the EU.[6] Gibson was also a member of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly as well a Substitute[7] on three other EU Parliamentary bodies: the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Committee on Regional Development and the Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

With more than 25 years’ experience as a business communication professional, Gibson has worked with companies across the world; is a past international chair of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC); past-president of SIETAR UK (the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research); and a past International Group Chair of the CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations).

Having come third in Stevenage at the 2017 general election, she was expected to stand as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Welwyn Hatfield in 2019 but she didn't.[8]

Personal life

Gibson lives with her husband and two dogs in Welwyn, Hertfordshire.[3]

Electoral history
General election 2017: Stevenage[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Stephen McPartland 24,798 50.3 Increase5.7
Labour Co-op Sharon Taylor 21,414 43.4 Increase9.2
Liberal Democrats Barbara Gibson 2,032 4.1 Increase0.8
Green Victoria Snelling 1,085 2.2 Decrease0.7
Majority 3,384 6.9 Decrease3.5
Turnout 49,329 69.7 Increase2.0
Conservative hold Swing Decrease1.8

2019 European Parliament election
European election 2019: East of England[10] (results)
List Candidates Votes % ±
Brexit Party Richard Tice (1)
Michael Heaver (3)
June Mummery (5)
Paul Hearn, Priscilla Huby, Sean Lever, Edmund Fordham		 604,715
(201,391.67)		 37.83 N/A
Liberal Democrats Barbara Gibson (2)
Lucy Nethsingha (6)
Fionna Tod, Stephen Robinson, Sandy Walkington, Marie Goldman, Jules Ewart		 361,563
(180,751.5)		 22.62 15.72
Green Catherine Rowett (4)
Rupert Read, Martin Schmierer, Fiona Radic, Paul Jeater, Pallavi Devulapalli, Jeremy Caddick		 202,460 12.67 4.17
Conservative Geoffrey Van Orden (7)
John Flack, Joe Rich, Thomas McLaren, Joel Charles, Wazz Mughal, Thomas Smith		 163,830 10.25 -18.15
Labour Alex Mayer, Chris Vince, Sharon Taylor, Alvin Shum, Anna Smith, Adam Scott, Javeria Hussain 139,490 8.73 -8.57
Change UK Emma Taylor, Neil Carmichael, Bhavna Joshi, Michelle de Vries, Amanda Gummer, Thomas Graham, Roger Casale 58,274 3.65 N/A
UKIP Stuart Agnew, Paul Oakley, Elizabeth Jones, William Ashpole, Alan Graves, John Wallace, John Whitby 54,676 3.42 -31.08
English Democrat Robin Tilbrook, Charles Vickers, Bridget Vickers, Paul Wiffen 10,217 0.64 -1.09
Independent Attila Csordas 3,230 0.20 N/A
Rejected ballots 9,589
Turnout 1,603,017 36.37% +0.4%

References
  1. "9th parliamentary term | Barbara Ann GIBSON | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  2. "The UK's European elections 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  3. "Barbara Gibson". East of England Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  4. "Barbara Gibson". Department of Applied Linguistics and Communication. Birkbeck. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  5. "Election results for Haldens (71), 4 May 2017". democracy.hertfordshire.gov.uk. 4 May 2017.
  6. McLaughlin, Charlotte. "MEP from Welwyn Garden City joins European Parliament committee". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  7. "Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament - Rule 200 - Substitutes - March 2019". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  8. "Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidates". Mark Pack. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  9. "Stevenage parliamentary constituency - Election 2017 - BBC News". BBC Online. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  10. "Candidates for European election". Chelmsford City Council. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
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